Choosing the Right Mix of Foods. Training for Warriors Portland

The right mix of foods will keep you burning fat, maintain your muscle tone and keep you fit as long as you are making great choices.

If you are choosing high quality foods to eat (according to what is clean, local, fresh, unprocessed and not destroyed by irradiation and excessive heat), and you prepare them yourself so as to have them when you need them, the final piece of the puzzle is the appropriate mix of foods for your body and the demands you are placing upon it.

You, as an individual, have a unique body, set of genes, and stressors that act upon your physiology. Your age, height, weight, training age, current condition, current training program all factor into your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) or how many calories you need to burn to be at your optimum health. Your metabolic type is an affect of your metabolism and indicates what foods you should eat to keep your blood sugar stable. It's important to take your specific metabolism into account when choosing what ratio of foods to eat at meal time. By ratio, I mean what percentage of your calories come from fat, from protein, and from carbohydrates (sugars). You need all three to run optimally, but each of us may need drastically different ratios to stay fit, trim and energetic.

Some folks have a great intuition for which foods make them feel good, and which foods are going to make them feel lethargic and "food comatose" after eating. I have a questionnaire sent to my clients to hone them in on the right mix, but there is some degree of trial and error in eating well.

If you are doing a lot of studying, you may need an extra serving of vegetables to feed your brain. If you're doing a lot of heavy lifting, you may need some protein to repair the damage your bout of exercise has done to your body. My body responds poorly to most starches, even tasty squash or root vegetables. I personally seem to prefer heavier fats, animal protein and legumes.

Getting the mix of ratios right for you has many payoffs.

Payoff #1: All day energy. No blood sugar crashes, minimal fatigue (as long as you have some mental breaks during the day) and general sense of vitality.

Payoff #2: Fat burning mode, all day. When your body is in a parasympathetic state, it burns fat.

Payoff #3: The parasympathetic state is also your creative and focused state. It is the opposite of having anxiety, or feeling scattered.

Payoff #4: Greater recovery from exercise. This means your workouts will be more vital, more intense, and ultimately more productive.